Are there Terrorist Sympathizers in Houston?

We’ve received several emails since Friday, September 11th from people who noticed a sign in a store window at a business on Harwin.

Patti wrote:

“Legal? probably, Wrong? Most Definitely! We need to make the public aware of the merchants that support this sentiment so the public can decide if they want to continue to financially support the merchant.”

When a Local 2 photographer went to the business to get video of the sign and speak with the owner of the store, he said someone was standing outside handing out this flier:

According to Wikipedia (I know, not everything there is true… but it’s a good quick resource on the fly for general information),

“In 661, Ali was attacked while praying in the mosque of Kufa, dying a few days later.

In Muslim culture, Ali is respected for his courage, knowledge, belief, honesty, unbending devotion to Islam, deep loyalty to Muhammad, equal treatment of all Muslims and generosity in forgiving his defeated enemies.”

“Ali holds a high position in almost all Sufi orders which trace their lineage through him to Muhammad.

Ali’s influence has thus continued throughout Islamic history.”

In the aftermath of September 11th, these are tough issues for journalists. Of course we have to look into issues like this.

Any business owner can open or close his establishment when he or she chooses. The Freedom of Speech allows allows them to post this kind of notice on the door (even if it was referring to a 9/11 terrorists).

But when we checked, we discovered that the business owner says it was an unfortunate coincidence. By broadcasting the story, we run the risk of alerting the majority of our viewers who hadn’t already seen the sign and fueling the fire in those who don’t accept the explanation.

Would we be causing more harm than good by reporting what was an unintentional insult? Let me know what you think by posting a comment below.

Related

14 Responses

Oops, sorry?? How did we not notice that it happened to be on the same day? Wow.

J - September 16, 2009 at 4:48 pm

Sounds like someone assumes that all Muslims are terrorists. Maybe some people should check into things a little further before they start casting stones.

LBMHOU - September 16, 2009 at 4:55 pm

Are we really to believe they did not make the connection? Do they not read US papers? Do they not listen to US Radio? Do they not watch US television? Ask any person on the streets what does 9-11 mean to you? In this day and age why didn’t the Muslim leaders caution their faithful in case they are oblivious to current events that this particular day is very politically charged and to make sure that they safely practice their faith and use it as a teaching moment to teach Christians about co existing and not showing callus indifference?

The explanation appears legit, but in their explanation letter they got the date wrong for when our national tragedy occurred. 9/11/2000?? Give me a break! Honest mistake x2, or fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me???

You be the judge.

Charles - September 16, 2009 at 10:16 pm

Um, their flyer states 9-11-2000. Attacks were on 9-11-2001. A proud american should know that.

G-man - September 16, 2009 at 10:17 pm

Let me explain something to you, Patti. Not all people with Arab names are terrorists. I don’t care what day of the year this sign was posted. The fact that you (and apparently others) ASSUMED that the martyr to which the shop owner referred was a terrorist says a little something about the way you think. And frankly, it makes me a little nauseous. You think that since September 11 conjures up images of terrorist attacks in the minds of Americans, that he should have predicted that we would all assume that he was CELEBRATING THE ACTIONS of one of the 9/11 attackers?! Simply because the sign has the word “Imam” on it? Wow. Wow, Patti. You have got some serious issues. This raises a cautionary flag, indeed. Caution that there are people like you out there, so quick to judge people from different cultures.

Yes, this blog post was necessary. No one should be able to get away with bigotry like this without being exposed. Even if they are still cloaked in the anonymity of the internet.

Sickened - September 16, 2009 at 11:09 pm

I think it’s very possible to not make the connection. One possible scenario is that they are recent immigrants. 9/11 was 8 years ago now. I didn’t remember that it was occurring until the news that morning mentioned it. I feel bad for anyone involved with it, but I don’t have it in the front of my mind constantly.

And why should Muslim leaders have to have their people be meek? That’s like advising people of the Jewish faith to lay low on Passover, or all the Mexican nationals on March 6. They’re not remotely related to the people who commited the act, and it happened a long time ago.

jake - September 16, 2009 at 11:12 pm

It’s really hard for me to wrap my head around the intolerance I hear from my fellow Americans. I read a bumper sticker that said “Compassion is the new radicalism of today”. How sad is that?

Pam Lucas - September 16, 2009 at 11:27 pm

Obviously, for Muslims, 9/11 has been a tragic day that they have been honoring for more than 1,000 years. The U.S. has been mourning the 9/11 terrorist attacks for only eight years. I’m not saying that one is more important or significant than the other, but when a date is entrenched in a culture and religion as being a day of mourning (in this case, the Muslims), I can see where they wouldn’t immediately think of the significance that date may have to others. And no, not everyone watches US radio and TV or reads US papers. Some people are here because they fled their country in order to live here and benefit from the freedoms a lot of natural US citizens take for granted, while having the luxury of being able to surround themselves with their specific culture and people because the US is such a “melting pot”. Patti, do you check every Christian holiday’s date to see how it coincides with the significance of dates in other religions or cultures? Would you do that if you lived in another country? The 9/11 attacks didn’t have anything to do with anyone not practicing their religion safely–it was a group of extremists who DON’T represent the Muslim majority, who are peaceful, tolerant people. Do the Heaven’s Gate or Waco tragedies represent the majority of Christians? Of course not. The lesson here is that we could all stand to be more aware of each other and more accepting, understanding, tolerant of the people and cultures around us.

Genevieve - September 17, 2009 at 8:23 am

I would not ever deny anyone the right to free speech or freedom of religion, however, this is an issue about tolerance and sensitivity — something every religion and nationality expects from Christian Americans, but don’t always expect from themselves. In knowing that 9/11 is the anniversary of rememberance for those that died in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon, perhaps the store owner could have said that they were closing in observance of a religious holiday vs. the explanation used.

Susan Terry-Wilhelm - September 17, 2009 at 9:49 am

Most of the highjackers we’re trained on US military bases. Norad happened to be running a drill where the highjacked planes couldn’t be shot down that day. Cheney was in control of shootdown orders that day. Research it. So what about the sign. What about the towers being destroyed by controlled demolition after the plane strikes and the nanothermite used to do this found in all the building dust. Wake up.

Brian - September 17, 2009 at 10:09 am

Agree, the owners should know what happened on 9/11 and what it means to EVERY American. If they needed to be closed, just put up a simple CLOSED TODAY sign.

Alison - September 17, 2009 at 10:55 am

I thought that use of the term “martyrdom” was a bit unnerving, since that is a buzz-word for modern terrorists.

It’s kind of like having a fish decal on your bumper to signal fraternity to other devout Christians.

This gentleman could have said, “Closed Friday for Ramadan” and we all would have understood, no problem.

Tanya - September 18, 2009 at 4:56 pm

I think that people are eager to be offended about things that don’t involve them in the slightest. It’s a business, owned by people (good and bad). It has goods. Buy them or don’t. Who cares why they are open or closed.

If “Righteous Christian Store” was price-gouging everyone, and “ExConvict-owned Store” was having a sale… and you’re broke with kids to feed. Where would you shop?

Besides, I wouldn’t have know who Imam Ali was either. And if did think they were celebrating the terrorist attacks… I would have at least researched the name and made sure I wasn’t SLANDERING a business erroneously first.